Engine controller



April 2, 1946. E. M. cLAYToR 2,397,534

ENGINE CONTROLLER Filed dan. 1 1945 2 sheets-sheet 1 4;; Hings llllllllllr 275265 l. 'l 26%271 la r April 2 946- E E. M. cLAYToR 2,397,534

ENG INE CONTROLLER Filed Jan. 1, y194s '2 sheets-sheet 2 C?? f IIMI: Z!

Patented Apr. 2, 1946 ENGINE CONTROLLER Edward M. Claytor, Anderson, Ind., signor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich.. a

corporation o! Delaware Application January 1, 1943, Serial No. 470.971

12 Claims.

This invention relates to fuel intake pressure regulators for internal combustion engines used on airplanes. One type of such pressure regulator is disclosed in Dolza et al. application, Serial No. 449,918, filed July 6, 1942. Briefly, the Dolza pressure regulator comprises a manually operated main control lever for moving the engine throttle valve from idling position to an open position slightly less than that required for take-off and automatic pressure controlled means for moving the valve still further towardfwide open position. The further opening of the valve is such that a selected engine intake pressure will be maintained at varying altitudes in predetermined relation to altitude. The automatically operated means for moving the throttle is a hydraulic servo motor operated by oil from the engine oil pressure system. Such a servo motor will not operate when the oil pressure fails or when the oil becomes congealed. Therefore this regulator provides for continuous circulation of oil from the engine and back again and provides a safety spring for returning the throttle to the range of manual control in case of cessation of oil pressure.

It is an object of the present invention to provide electrically operated means for effecting movement of the throttle valve, and a control for the electrically operated means responsive to operation of the manual means formoving the throttle valve and responsive to-the pressure at the fuel intake of the engine.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of theeinvention is clearly shown.

In the drawings: v

Figs. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing various statuses of a controller arranged to be operated automatically by an electric servo motor which is not shown in these figures.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of an electric servo motor and control therefore adapted to be used with the regulator shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

A lever |-called the main control lever is connected with a shaft I I which operates arms I2 and I3. Ihe free end of arm I3v supports a pivot I4 for a bell crank lever having arms I6 and I8. The free end of arm I5 is connected by pivot I1 with a link I8 connected by pivot I9 with an arm 20. attached to a shaft 2i which operates a throttle valve 22 in a fuel intake pipe 23. Arm

.- at pivot 31 with lever I2.

l will be equal.

Cam 33 controls the position of the lever 48 which is pivoted at 4I and which is urged against the cam 33 by spring 42. Thelower end of lever 40 is engaged by blocks 43 and 44 slidable between guides 45. Pivot 4I is supported by a bridge 46 connecting the free end blades 41 and 48 of flexible metal bellows 49 and 68 respectively having fixed ends 5I and 82 respectively. Bellows 49 is evacuated. Beuows su is connected by pipe 53 with the engine fuel intake. Springs (not shown) are located within the bellows 49 and 50 and these springs are so calibrated that the pivot 4I will move in 'a predetermined relation to changes in the engine fuel intake pressure within the bellows 50. Since bellows is tied to the aneroid bellows 48, variations in external pressure only will not change the position of pivot 4 I.

The lever 28 is connected with a shaft 60 which is operated by the reversible electric servo motor, to be described. The operation of this motor in either direction is controlled by carbon pile resistances 8| and 62. The pile 6I coni'lned between electrodes 63 and 85/and the pile 62 is confined between electrodes 64 and 86. Electrodes 63 and 64 are electrically insulated from the mechanism thus far described. A spring-81 is confined between block 44'and electrode 63. A spring 68 is conned between block 43 and electrode 64. When blocks 43 and 44 are located substantially midway between the electrodes 83 and 84, the pressure exerted by springs 61 and 68 will be equal, and the resistances of the piles 6I and 62 I-n order that this relation may be effected, adjustments can be made by screws 69 and 10 threaded through stationary supports II and 12 and bearing respectively against the' electrodes 85 and 68.

As will be described later in connection with Fig. 3, when the blocks 43 andY 44 move toward the right to-increase the compression `of spring 68 and to reduce the compression of spring 61 as shown in Fig. 2, the servo motor will operate shaft 60 counterclockwise to move the arm 28 from the position 28a toward the position 28h in Fig, 2. If the blocks 43 and 44 move toward the left from mid position, the compression of spring 81 will be increased and the compression of -spring 68 will be decreased and the servo motor to rotate the shaft 80 clockwise. position so that' the resistances of the piles 6I and l2 are the same, no rotation of shaft 60 takes place. Normally the parts stand in the position shown in Fig. l, the throttle 22 being in idle position which, for example, is 11 from the horizontal.

if the pilot wishes to take oil'; he moves the main control lever l connected with the pilot throttle operating 'lever in the cockpit in a counterclockwise direction tothe position lila shown in Fig. 2. 'Ihe servo motor has not yet rotated the shaft 60 from the position shown in Fig. 1, therefore the arm 28 and link 25 remain in the positions designated 28a and 26a ln Fig. 2. Movement of the lever ill to the position Hic causes When block 44 is in mid- 21a to 2lb' which results in moving cam shaft 3| from Sla. to SIb in Fig. 2. The equilibrium i position of lever I0 at critical altitude is 0b. In

arm i2 to move to l2a and pivot `it to moveto Y ita in Fig. 2. Therefore bell crank lever arms move to ita and ita in Fig. 2. Link imoves to ita, throttle lever 2li moves to 20a and throttle 22 moves to 22a which is the 51 position or 40 vfrom idle position. This movement of lever ill Spring d2. therefore causes lever il@ to move tothe a position in Fig. 2. Blocks d3 and ed move to the positions shown in Fig. 2 and spring d@ is additionally compressed while spring l is weakened. This causes the resistance of carbon pile 2 to decrease while the resistance of carbon pile 5i increases. In a manner to be explained with reference to Fig. 3, the servo motor causes shaft @t to turn counterclockwise so that arm 28 moves left from 2da, the link 25 moves left from 25a, the bell crank lever arms l5 and i6 move, respectively, clockwise from lea-and ita; link 5&3 moves right from 18a, lever 2li moves clockwise from a, and throttle valve 22 moves clockwise from 22a. The extent of movement o these parte for the purpose of automatically opening the throttle valve`22 beyond the manually set position 22a increases with altitude. At ground level, the automatic opening of valve 22 beyond position 22u, is relatively small in order that the engine intake pressure will cause bellows 5i] to expand and move lever u toward the left and return blocks 63 and 46 to normal position at which further opening of valve 22' by the servo motor ceases. As altitude increases, there is a tendency of the engine intake pressure to decrease accompanied by a tendency of the bellows 5t to contract accompanied by a tendency of lever dll to move right to decrease the resistance of carbon pile 62 and to permit the increase of the resistance of carbon pile 6I. Therefore the servo motor is operating to move arm 28 from position 28a toward position 28h, to move pivot 26 from 28a toward 26h, to move linky 25 from 25a toward 251i, arm i6 from |641 toward 1Gb, arm i5 from la toward ib, link I8 from Illa toward Elib, lever 20 from Eta toward 20h, in order to move valve 22 from 22a toward 22h into the positions required for maintaining intake pressure in a predetermined relation to altitude. At critical altitude, the b" positions of all of these parts will have been reached. As critical altitude is approached,

` the upper end of lever 40 is being shifted toward the right due to movement of cam 33 from ground level position 33a to critical altitude position 33h. This change in position is caused by clockwise rotation of shaft 29 by movement of arm 21 from this way the pressure selected manually is gradually reduced as the airplane ascends. This is desirable since advantage is taken of the fact that less engine'power is required to exhaustthe engine against the rareiled atmosphere: therefore it is not necessary to work the engine so hard at higher altitudes. In other words the .engineis operated so that the indicated mean eective pressure in its cylinders will remain the same regardless of altitude.

'I'he electrical servo motor and its control by the carbon pile resistances 6I and B2 will now be described with' reference to Fig. 3. The shaft t0 to which arm 28 is connected, as shown in Fig. 2, is driven by a servo motor 8u having amature 8| in series with a wire 82 and with a clutch operating magnet 85 in series with a wire t3. Wires 83 and 82 are connected with armature d@ and 8l of generators Gi, and G2 which are so connected that their armature currents oppose as indicated by arrows 8S and BS. Generators GI and G2 are driven by shaft 9u connected with the armature 9| o1 a generator-operating-motor GM having a shunt ileld winding t2. The generators Gl and G2 are provided, respectively, with shunt field windings 9d and 85 connected in series between line wires S5 and 97- leading, respectively, from a switch 98 connected with positive tenui# nal of battery 99 and with negative terminal of battery 9S. The flow of current through shunt eld Sli of generator GI is controlled by a bypass comprising a wire Sdu, the carbon pile Si and a manually controlled variable resistance lill. The ow of current through shunt iielcl of generator G2 ls controlled by a bypass including a wire 95a, the carbon pile 62 and a manually controlled variable resistance 192. The armature and eld 92 of motor GM are connected between the line wires et and sl. When the switch 98 is closed motor GM drives generators Gl and G2. The closing of switch 98 also connects battery 99 with separately excited eld winding E83 of motor B.

The current for armature 8l of motor t@ is supplied by the armatures of generators Gl and G2; therefore the direction of rotation of motor armature 8l depends on which of the generators GI or G2 is generating the highest voltage. If, for example, the blocks i3 and d4 move right. as shown in Fig. 2, thereby causing the resistance oi carbon pile 62 to decrease'and the resistance of carbon pile ti to increase, less current will ow through generator shunt field 95 and more current will ow through generator shunt eld 96, and the voltage of the armature` current of Gl will increase and the voltage of armature current of G2 will decrease. Therefore the current 'owing in the direction of arrow 88 will overbalance the current owing in the direction or arrow 89 and motor SM will rotate in such direction as to rotate the shaft 60 counterclockwise so that arm 28 will move from 28a toward 28h. This causes an opening oi' valve 22 to such position that the desired fuel intake pressure will be maintained. Therefore the position of pivot 4| will move from lla (Fig. 2) left to Mb, and the blocks B3 and i4k will return to mid-position. The voltages oi' armature Gl and G2 will be equal and rotation of the motor SM will stop.

When the airplane descends it is necessary to reduce the opening of the throttle valve in order pressure tends to become too great. then the blocks 43 and 44 would move toward the left of midposition, thereby causing the resistance of carbon pile 8| to decrease whilethe resistance of carbon pile 62 increases, whereby the flow of current through shunt field 85 increases and the flow of current through shunt field 84 decreases.

l whereby the voltage of armature of generator G2 arm 28 acting through shaft 80. Shaft 80 is con-V nected with an arm ||2 connected by a link ||3 with an arm l|4 attached to the hub ||5 of a.

gear ||6 meshing with a rack |`|1 having a lug ||8 shaped to clear the lower end of lever 40 but to engage either of the blocks 48 and 44. Assuming that a reduction of intake pressure below that selected to be maintained has occurred,

thereby causing bellows 50 to contract and the Y blocks 43 and 44 to move to the position shown in Fig. 2, block 44 willthen be located close to the left side of lug ||8 as it is located in Fig. 3.

.When, as the result of the condition shown in Fig. 2, lever 28 is caused to move counterclockwise to open the throttle valve 22 in order to increase the intake pressure, lug ||8 moves left to move block 44 to increase the pressure of spring 61 above what it would be when in the condition shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, while the throttle valve is being moved to effect a condition which will restore equilibrium by acting through the bellows 50 to return lever 40 to midposition shown in Fig. 1, the lug 8 is acting in anticipation of the restoration to equilibrium by so acting through block 44 and spring 61 upon carbon pile 8i as to increase its resistance and to reduce the current in field 94- of generator GI,

thereby decreasing the amount of Voltage by` The motor 80 is mechanically connected by speed reducing gearing 84 with a clutch driving member |00 adapted to be engaged by a driven member |0| at all times connected with a shaft ||0 connected by a friction clutch lil with shaft 60. Clutch will yield to permit manual operation-of lever 28. 4

Member |0| has a brake face |02 normally contacting a fixed brake part |03 against which it is maintained by a spring 04 acting against a lever |05, pivoted at 08 and carrying a stud |01 received by a groove in member 0| Lever |05 carries an armature |08 located'adlacent a core |09 surrounded by the clutch and brake con-v trolling magnet coil 85. When the voltage impressed on motor 80 is sufficient to cause lt to operate and turn the lever 28, the magnetism of coil 85 is sufficient to overcome spring |04 and to cause clutch parts |0| and |00 to be engaged and the brake parts |02 and |08 to be disengaged. When the voltage impressed on motor 80 is too low to cause its operation. the coil 85 is so weakened that spring |04 operates to disengage clutch parts 00 and |0| and to engage the brake parts |02 and |03. Therefore, when the motor is deenergized, shaft 80 will stop and will be retained) in the position in which it was located by the motor 80 at the, time it was deenergized. although the motor armature might continue rotating due to its inertia.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form it is tc be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine havinga throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve, and control means for the electric motor under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake and operable to control the direction and amount of current flow through the armature of the D. C. motor.

2. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve, two sources of D. C. voltage connected in voltage opposition and to the armature of the D. C. motor and means under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake for regulating the voltage of said two voltage. sources.

3. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of -a supercharged interna1 combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements ofthe throttle valve, two D. C. generators having their armatures connected in voltage-opposition and to the armature of the D. C. motor, means for driving the generators, and means under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake for regulating the eld excitation of the generators.

4. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a' supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operablel means for eflecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve, two D. c. generators having their armatures connected in voltage-opposition and to the armature of the D. C. motor, means for driving the generators. two carbon pile resistances respectively in shunt with the field circuits of the generators, and means under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake for adjusting said resistances.

5. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve, means for controlling'the direction and amount of current ilow through the armature of the D. C. motor and including two variable resistances and means under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake for adjusting said resistances.

6. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion means for'effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve, means for causing the D. C. motor to rotate in one direction or the other or to stop, said means including two variable resistances and means under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake for adjusting said resistances.

'7. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for eecting other movements of the throttle valve, means for causing the D. C. motor to rotate in one direction or the other or to stop, said means including two variable resistances, a lever for adjusting said resistances, and means under the control of the manual means and of the pressure at the fuel intake for actuating said lever.

8. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, aD. C. electric motor for eecti-ng other movements of the throttle valve, means for causing the D. C'. motor to rotate in one direction or the other or to stop said means including two variable resistances, a lever for adjusting said resistances, fulcrums for the lever at spaced points thereof, means under the control of the manual means for adjusting one fulcrum and means under the control of the pressure at the fuel intake for adjusting the other fulcruxn.

9. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting movements of the throttle valve, a D. C. electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve, means for causing the D. C. motor to rotate in one direction or the other or to stop, said means including two variable resistances, a movable element for adjusting said resistances, a lever having one end connected Awith said movable element, fulcrums for the lever lated respectively at the other end of the lever and at a point between the ends of the lever, means under the control of the manual means for adjusting the fulcrurn at the end of the lever remote from the resistanceeadiusting element, and means under the control of the pressure at the fuel intake for adjusting the fulcrum,between the ends oi the lever.

10. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle vulva-manually operable means for effecting` a movement of the throttle valve to variably regulate the intake Pressure, an electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve to also variably regulate the intake pressure and control means for the electric motor under control of the mual means and of the pressure in the fuel intake, said control means being operable to control the direction of movement of the throttle valve by said motor and also operable to control the amount of movement of said valve which is et fected by the motor.

11. Apparatus for regulating the iuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having 4a throttle valve, manually operable means for effecting a movement of the throttle lvalve to variably regulate the intakev pressure, an electric motor for effecting other movements of the throttle valve to also variably regulate the intake pressure and control means for the electric motor under control oi the man ual means and o! the pressure in the fuel intake, said control means being operable to control the direction of movement of the throttle valve by said motor and also operable to control the amount of current flow through the armature o the motor so as to control the amount of movement of the throttle valve by said motor.

12. Apparatus for regulating the fuel intake pressure of a supercharged internal combustion engine having a throttle valve movable to vari-n ous positions to control said' intake pressure, manually operable means for selecting a pressure to be maintained and for moving the throttle valve toward the 'position it should occupy to maintain the selected pressure and a motor for efijecting additional/'movements of the throttle valve to bring such valve to the required position, said motor being eective t0 produce other movements of the throttle valve to maintain the'pressure selected under different operating conditions and control means for the electric motor under the control of the manual means and of the pressure in the fuel intake, said control means 4being operable' to control the direction of movement of the throttle and the amount of such movement necessary to maintain the pressure selected.

. EDWARD M. $116 

